Healthy snacking

If you're looking for extra energy and health then get into the foods below to rev up your day. By loading up your fridge and fruit bowls with these, you'll be stacking not only your odds, but also everyone elses in the house too.


Next time you're shopping, put these in your trolley:

Mandarins, apples, bananas, kiwifruit, pears are all prepacked fast foods. Fat free, filling, cheap (about $1.50 for 2 bananas & a mandarin), easy to carry and with their own eco friendly disposable wrappers.

Broccoli, snow peas, capsicum, tomatoes, cucumbers, beans are great for quick lunches. Open your lunch box and toss them in. You'll make lunch in 2 minutes and save money too. The average bought lunch costs $5.50. Multiply that by 300 lunches per year and that's $1650! Add in a muffin and a vending machine trip a few times a week and voila...enough for 7 days of luxury in Fiji.

Beat the late night TV snacking. Stock your fridge with crisp fresh baby carrots, raisins, dates, cool water and hummus. Fill up your plate, throw on some rice crackers and snack away. If you still feel like 'something else', add some nuts, Edam cheese or low fat cream cheese spread. It puts that rich taste in your mouth that helps satisfy the taste buds.

Get these foods into your day and you'll have all the energy you need, plus you'll get the bonus of cheap, natural multi vitamins. And you'll be stacking the odds in your favour.

This week's task to try:

When you walk in the door at the end of the day, get into this habit.

Drop your keys, kick off your shoes and put a pot of water on to boil. Simple. That's it.

One of the reasons we reach for the phone to dial a pizza is that we are too tired from the drive home to have the energy to make a meal. If you make it a habit to get water boiling as you walk in the door, then before you even think about it, you've got dinner underway. All that needs to be done is to pop in the pasta, throw in the potatoes or frozen vegetables or toss in the rice.

Guest Bloggers: Rochelle wins the challenge!

We spoke to Rochelle Elgie after winning the Healthy Lifestyle Challenge, who enjoyed a bit of healthy competition during the challenge and has continued some healthy lifestyle habits.

The last 6 weeks have been tough, but caffeine-withdrawal headache aside, it’s been fun.  I did find the first and last few weeks the hardest and just wanted to eat some chocolate or a raspberry cream bun or 3, but with Nina close behind I kept going with the salads and steamed veges.

When it finished I had a little chocolate and baking indulgence to celebrate my being healthy (doesn’t sound quite right!) but have kept up most of the new habits thanks to the 6 weeks of doing them and support from Tina, Eloise and everyone else taking part! 

Tuna salads, water and going to the gym are still in, baking and chocolate are now limited and coffee, deep fried takeaways, fizzy drinks and lollies are out.

I lost 3.15kg and 5.5cm around my waist.  I plan to drop a couple more kilos and build some more lean muscle because I feel so much healthier when I’m eating healthy and exercising.  I’m also surprised at how easy it is to get up in the morning, as pre-challenge I was half-asleep until I’d had my 2 cups of coffee.

I hope everyone has gained something positive from this challenge to keep continuing with.

Well wadda ya know!

Had to share! A heart-shaped walnut in my packet of Nice & Natural Nutricious nuts!

Guest Bloggers: Nikki's successful challenge

As I wasn’t able to take part in the lifestyle challenge last year, I was determined to be involved and do well in this one. 

Nikki happy after her awards

I am a competitive person, but I also wanted to take part as extra motivation to make some changes.

I knew some things would be easy, such as reducing my coffee intake to one a day as I don’t normally drink hot drinks.  But the idea of getting to bed by 1030pm every night, and the thought of missing out on my occasional glass of wine with dinner was quite daunting.

Getting the food related points was also a challenge, particularly eating the five fruit and veg and having protein with every meal.  I became more creative with my food choices and ended up with a lot more variety in my diet, trying new things such as a lot more fish. Chewing my food until it was liquid meant that I took twice as long to eat a meal, and often felt full before I finished, therefore stopping my late night snacking.

The first week of the challenge was quite difficult and to be honest, I felt worse, maybe even a little bit low. This was possibly due to my body detoxing. However, after this initial hurdle, I began to feel much better and had a lot more energy - bouncing around like Tigger first thing in the morning, much to the regret of my colleagues.

After such a positive outcome I am planning to keep up with the changes I have made to my lifestyle, which I think will be quite easy as those habits are now, well, habits (although I may allow myself the odd glass of wine now and again).  Bring on the next challenge!!